10 Great Tulips for Cut Flower Use
10 Great Tulips for Cut Flower Use
There’s nothing quite like Tulips in the spring. After the long dreary months of winter, they are a healing balm to soul and delight to behold.
For most us, fall is the time to plant Tulips for blooms the following spring. Here on our farm, we usually try to get all our Tulips planted before Thanksgiving.
We grow our Tulips in temporary raised beds that are disassembled after the Tulip harvest is over. You can learn more about why we grow this way HERE.
When we harvest Tulips for cut flower use, we treat them as an Annual flower, not a Perennial. We harvest the entire plant, bulb and all.
They can be stored dry (with no water) in buckets or crates for about 2 weeks in our walk-in cooler before being bunched and wrapped. When we’re ready to use them, the bulbs are removed from the stems and discarded. The freshly cut stems go into cold water and they are ready to go.
It may seem odd to throw away the bulbs, but once the stem/foliage is removed from the bulb, the bulb has no way of regenerating itself.
If you want your Tulips to come back, don’t harvest the blooms. Enjoy the blooms in the garden, instead of the vase. It’s also VITAL to allow the foliage to die back naturally on your landscape Tulips. If you remove the spent flowers/foliage too early, they cannot perennialize properly.
To summarize:
1.If you want your Tulips to behave like a Perennial, DO NOT HARVEST the blooms. Allow them to grow, bloom, and die back in the garden (but please note that many Tulip varieties only bloom reliably for 2-3 seasons).
2.If you want to harvest Tulips for bouquets, treat them as an ANNUAL. You will get one bloom per bulb, per season. The bulbs are discarded/composted after harvest. New bulbs are planted each fall.
If you want to grow Tulips for cut flower use, here are a few I’ve trialed over the years and can heartily recommend!
Apricot Impression
Type: Darwin Hybrid
Height: 24 inches
Bloom Time: Mid/Late
These Darwin Hybrid-type Tulips grow impressively long stems! A classic single Tulip with clean lines and form. They bloom early and often overlap with the Daffodil season.
“Apricot Impression”
“Apricot Impression”
Apricot Parrot
Type: Parrot
Height: 20 inches
Bloom Time: Late
Parrot Tulips are fascinatingly beautiful. I love the contrasting colors on these Tulips. They’re decadent, luxurious, and unique. Many people have never seen Tulips like these before!
“Apricot Parrot”
“Apricot Parrot”
Columbus
Type: Double Early (Peony flowering)
Height: 14 inches
Bloom Time: Early/Mid
One of the earliest “Peony” type Tulips to bloom. The bright raspberry-pink blooms with white edging are a welcome treat after a long, dreary winter.
“Columbus”
“Columbus”
Foxtrot
Type: Double Mid (Peony flowering)
Height: 14 inches
Bloom Time: Early/Mid
A dreamy pale pink Tulip that pairs perfectly with “Foxy Foxtrot”. They are similar in size, height and bloom time. “Foxtrot” and “Foxy Foxtrot” complement each other beautifully (see image below)!
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“Foxtrot”
“Foxtrot”
“Foxtrot” (pink) and “Foxy Foxtrot” (yellow)
Foxy Foxtrot
Type: Double Mid (Peony flowering)
Height: 14 inches
Bloom Time: Early/Mid
Foxy Foxtrot is sturdy, reliable, and long-lasting in the vase. The delicious buttery-yellow blooms, painted with streaks of warm pink, are a pure delight.
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“Foxy Foxtrot”
“Foxy Foxtrot”
Tulip "Gudoshnik Double"
Type: Double Mid (Peony flowering)
Height: 24 inches
Bloom Time: Early
Each Peony-like bloom is a symphony of shades of red, coral, orange, yellow, and cream. These Tulips are exceptionally tall and attention-grabbing, in the garden or the vase.
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"Gudoshnik Double"
"Gudoshnik Double"
"Mystic Van Eijk"
Type: Darwin Hybrid
Height: 22 inches
Bloom Time: Mid
The gorgeous shimmering coral pink tones are mesmerizing, like a spring sunrise. A charming Tulip, perfect for the garden or spring arrangements.
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“Mystic Van Eijk”
“Mystic Van Eijk”
Parrot Negrita
Type: Parrot
Height: 18 inches
Bloom Time: Mid
If I could only grow one Tulip for the rest of my life, it would be “Parrot Negrita”. The color, the contrast, the form…. They are quite possibly the most elegant Tulip I’ve ever seen. They look as if they are straight out of a Baroque-era painting (psst… I was a Studio Art and Art History teacher before I became a farmer!).
They may look oddly shaped as they are forming buds, but trust the process. Harvest when the buds begin to swell open (pictured below). The blooms become even more stunning as they open up and age in the vase.
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“Parrot Negrita”
“Parrot Negrita”
“Parrot Negrita”, ready for harvest
Sunlover
Type: Double Mid (Peony flowering)
Height: 22 inches
Bloom Time: Mid
A dose of cheery bright sunshine after the long dark winter. These huge blooms are sure to make you smile. The Peony-like blooms are a mix of assorted shades of sunny yellow and orange, with occasional streaks of glowing red.
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“Sunlover”
“Sunlover”
Super Parrot
Type: Parrot
Height: 16 inches
Bloom Time: Mid
These elegant Tulips are breathtaking on their own or paired with other Parrot Tulips (I love to mix them with “Parrot Negrita” for a particularly stunning presentation). This variety has quickly become an MVP on the farm. White Tulips complement any color scheme. I can never grow enough!
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“Super Parrot”
“Super Parrot”
“Super Parrot” (white) and “Parrot Negrita” (purple)
